


delinquency

by shindouchrono



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 11:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18342908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shindouchrono/pseuds/shindouchrono
Summary: “Haven't you heard the rumors about Shindou? He's violent and cruel. Don't you know he took down a whole armed gang single handedly?”





	delinquency

Shion rustles through his shoe locker. Every so often, someone would request he stay behind slightly late so they could tell him something. After that, they'd confess and he'd decline. As always.

It wasn't like he had no interest. It was just that no one in particular had caught his eye. He just didn't like anyone in that way, yet. So it was more of a hassle, than anything else.

She cries when he rejects him, and the blonde runs into the same roadblock he'd been running into. There was a polite and gentle way to tell whoever it was he wasn't interested, but if he was  _ too  _ kind, they'd surely take it the wrong way.

He apologizes, but she doesn't accept it.

“Kiba-kun, what happened to you? Ever since you've been hanging out with Anjou-san and Shindou-kun, you've been so much different…”

Was he? Shion wonders, mind drifting off. Things had changed, that was true. He'd finally found people who loved him and cherished him, not because of what he was told to be. Tokoha and Chrono loved him because of who he  _ was. _

Maybe he had become different, he thinks. But it's a good kind of change. He was happier this way.

“Anjou-san is fine, but it's Shindou-kun I don't trust. Don't you know what people say about him?” The girl asks, stepping forward to grip at Shion's shirt. He wants to flinch away, but doesn't. It was a habit, being the Kiba family heir. Outward appearances mattered. “He's violent. Rude. He has a history of being a delinquent who took down a full gang all on his own, bare-handed. Aren't you worried about being with someone like that?’

The blonde can feel his heart speed up, and cheeks burn with a fiery hot rage. He doesn't want to act out, or lash out, but he can feel the anger circle in his veins like a disease. 

“Quite the contrary.” Shion replies, forcing his best smile. “I'm not at all worried. I'm more worried for people like you.”

The girl's expression softens, and Shion narrows his eyes. “Kiba-kun…”

“People like you, who make conclusions without every trying to figure out the details. Brainless fools like you are a waste of my time. Don't  _ ever  _ say such things about my best friend.” Delicately, he pulls her off. With a glint of aggression in his eye, Shion smiles. He finishes pulling on his shoes, shutting the locker with a loud  _ bang.  _ “Now, if you'll excuse me.”

He ignores the flabbergasted expression of his schoolmate, focusing on attempting  _ not  _ to slam the entrance door so hard the glass breaks.

What absolute horseshit.

* * *

Tokoha tried to tell herself she didn’t mind when people would stop her at Card Capital. Not to fight her, not to talk to Tokoha, but to talk to Mamoru Anjou’s little sister. This time she recognized the few talking to her. 

It helped that they were wearing the same uniform she was. She'd never talked to them one on one before, despite being in the same class.

“Hey, Anjou.” One of them greets, with a grin that rubs Tokoha the wrong way. She immediately gets the feeling she was bound to dislike whatever came out of his mouth next. “You're in a team, right? With Kiba and Shindou.”

She nods, not looking up from her deck. Tokoha wasn't doing anything in particular. Just organizing and then reshuffling. Anything to make it seem like she was too busy to fight. 

“You've heard the rumors, right? About Shindou.” 

Tokoha raises her head, eyes narrowing. “What?” She asks, unsure if her tone was as seething as she desired.

Her classmate grins. He looks smug, and Tokoha wants nothing more than to reach over and tear the grin off his lips. He knows he got her with those words. He placed the bait, and she took it, hook, line, and sinker.

“Oh, you haven't? I'll tell you, then. Just so you aren't surprised by your so-called teammate, later down the line. He's violent and cruel. Don't you know he took down a whole armed gang single handedly?” 

The boy next to him pipes up. “Yeah. He's been alone this whole time. You seriously think he'd suddenly up and change? Hell no. He's  _ using  _ both you and Kiba. Seriously, for someone this smart, I'm surprised you had to be told this.”

The corners of Tokoha's lips turn upwards. She can feel the misunderstanding when the two boys see her smile. She stands, clapping on hand on one of their shoulders. It didn't matter which. She didn't know their names.

She didn't care.

“Wow. Thanks, for such enlightening information.”

The boys look proud. What idiots. 

“Heh. I'm glad you finally saw the truth. As thanks, we'd like to request your brother's phone number. After all, it's the least you could do. Since we just helped you out.”

She snorts. “I don't think so. You see, that's not why I thanked you.” Her grip on his shoulder tightens. Suddenly, he looks scared. “I thanked you for the entertainment. Seriously, it's been a while since I heard a joke that funny. You should sign up for comedy classes, though, because your punchline was a little bit lacking. And you chose the wrong audience.”

Tokoha steps closer, hand falling to her side. The two boys take a step back for each inch closer she gets. She's grinning now. 

“The only way you could surpass the joke you made is if you told me about yourself. Seriously, are you so stupid you can only see what's on the surface of everyone around you? Are you just going to believe every rumor everyone tells you?

“If that's the case, then listen to me. Spread  _ this _ rumor, it'll be the first one that has any merit. If I catch either of you, or  _ anyone, _ saying such things about my teammates ever again, I'll make sure you don't come within 500 feet of any one of us, or Mamoru Anjou. Got it?” This time, she places a hand on each of their shoulders, grinning all the while. 

“W-we understand. We're sorry, Anjou…” 

Tokoha sits back down. “Good. Now  _ go away _ . I was planning to buy a croquette after this. Don't spoil my appetite.” 

The two run off, exiting Card Capital in a rush. A clear ring fills the air, and Tokoha feels relief. 

Seriously. Chrono? A delinquent? He was the type of guy to take bugs outside instead of killing them. He'd stop traffic to make sure a cat could properly cross the road.

Chrono Shindou was the type of person who'd forsake all of his plans to make sure some random child he didn't know could get home safely, regardless of how important those events might have been.

Seriously. How stupid, to think he was anything other than kind-hearted. 

* * *

Chrono anxiously taps his foot against the ground, waiting for the rest of his team to arrive. He was… just a little bit early, but he still felt impatient. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a pair of boys he almost recognizes staring at him and whispering. The redhead rolls his eyes and goes back to staring at the clock.

About ten minutes pass, and Chrono's getting more impatient. It's about time for them to show up now, and those boys keep  _ staring _ and he's getting even more irritated. 

He opens up their group chat, tapping his finger against his arm.  _ Where are you guys. These 2 guys keep staring at me _

Tokoha responds.  _ how early did u get there?? what guys _

_ Idk,  _ Chrono types back,  _ but they're wearing our school uniforms? I haven't seen them before I don't think. I don't like how they're looking at me _

He misses the next text that they send, and the one after that, because--

The two boys have started to approach them. He shoves his phone back in his pocket, even  _ more  _ annoyed. He knew he wasn't going to like what came out of their mouth next.

“Funny meeting you here, Shindou.” One of them says, looking like he didn't think it was funny. His tone soaked of malice, and disgust-- and Chrono felt like he was being looked down upon. 

“Yeah,” Chrono replies, avoiding looking at their faces. Their expressions. “Funny.” He doesn't like the feeling he gets after seeing the look of disgust in their eyes.

“We've been meaning to talk to you, actually. About you and your ‘team’.” The other boy says, grin stretching across his face. “We'll get straight to the point. You're just using them, aren't you? You're not a very friendly person, after all.”

Wow, what a conclusion. But it wasn't like that. He wasn't using them at all. What would he even be using them for? Him not being friendly was true, but… using them? That's definitely not true.

Chrono doesn't know what to say. Part of him is ready to blow up at them, to grab their collars--knowing full well that they were afraid of him, for whatever reason. He wanted to ask them where in the hell they got that idea from. 

But if rumors like that were floating around, him acting out could easily reach everyone else's ears. It'd be a pain in the ass for the rest of TRY3, wouldn't it? 

Actually. He was kind of a pain in the ass in general. Chrono knew he was bad tempered and hard to get along with. Those two already thought of him like that, and he'd be okay with making it worse if he didn't have anyone he cared about. But he does have people he cares about, and doesn't want to be a bother to them. 

Anymore than he already is, at least. 

Chrono's so lost in his thoughts he doesn't notice the boys are still talking, and getting closer to boot. 

“Are you listening, Shindou?” He backs Chrono up against a wall, slamming his hand just above the redhead's face. “Get away from those two. We already warned them, but you must be really manipulating them, because they aren't doing anything about it.”

Chrono scoffs. “You seriously think they'd be manipulated that easily? Nevermind what you think about me, but I won't let you even imply Shion and Tokoha are weak. Don't talk about my friends like that.” He tries to keep his tone even, and voice low so he doesn't draw attention. “Do you seriously think acting like a shoujo manga villain is gonna have any affect on me?” 

The redhead turns to glare at the other boy, who flinches and backs away. Good. 

He didn't care if other people found him intimidating or scary. He didn't care if they spread bad rumors. He didn't care if everyone hated him. But it was unforgivable to bring Tokoha and Shion into it. 

Chrono's too focused on glaring the two boys into submission, he doesn't hear a pair of familiar footsteps approaching. 

“Wow, Chrono. Getting kabedon'd without us?” Tokoha asks, sarcastically. “And you two! You're back again. Did you not hear me last time?”

Last time? Had the boys talked to them before? If so… the redhead wondered how his best friends responded to something like that. 

The two boys back away, and Chrono crosses his arms over his chest. Tokoha's on his right, and Shion's on his left. He was sure they all sported the same glare. 

“I wasn't purposefully getting kabedon'd. He did it all on his own.”

“What is he, a shoujo manga villain?” The girl asks, looking over at Chrono with an amused look. 

Shion snorts, and Chrono laughs. “Yeah, that's what I said.” The redhead realizes that he feels okay now. He feels better. 

“So why are you here?” Shion walks up to the boys, strides long and practiced. He wasn't holding his fencing weapon, but Chrono swore he saw it for a second. “You were very willing to tell Chrono about it. So tell us. What is it that you wanted? It clearly involved all three of us.”

“Um, well… we were, just telling Shindou--that he seriously needed to back off you two. He's never…! Had friends before this, so,” His voice wavers, and he can't seem to look anyone in the eyes. “He's obviously forcing you into this. You've heard of his history of violence.”

Chrono absentmindedly fiddles with the hem of his shirt. That was just a rumor. He didn't have any history of violence. It spread around because he happened to be there. That was it. But it kept spreading, and seemed like it had a layer of truth to it because of how Chrono acted.

“It's really none of your business.” Chrono says, looking at the ground. “And they're not so weak to be forced into anything.”

Tokoha frowns, and whirls around to look at Chrono. Her gaze is piercing, and she has a sharp look in her eyes. “Chrono, why aren't you standing up for yourself properly? Get angry! They're accusing you of things you'd never do!! And they're saying stupid shit like this--”

“It's fine, Tokoha. Whatever I say or do is just gonna make it worse. There's no point.”

“What do you mean, ‘there's so point’...?! Of course there is!” She's getting angrier, and glares at the two boys. “You two. This is the  _ last time _ I'm telling you this. Chrono Shindou is a kind hearted person. He isn't forcing us into our friendship, and even if he tried, he'd suck at it because he's  _ nice. _ He's way better than any of you two could ever hope to be.”

“I agree.” Shion cuts in. “You claim to be doing this for Tokoha and I's sakes, but you never once considered the fact that you were wrong, or that we  _ want  _ to be with him. Chrono's a good person. I won't let you speak ill of him.” 

Chrono can feel his cheeks start to get incredibly red and he  _ hates _ it. “Okay. This is starting to get embarrassing.”

Shion and Tokoha turn to look at him, grinning despite the situation. 

Finally, the girl steps closer to them, and claps her hands on their shoulders. “Alright, a reminder. This is the last time I'm telling you this. Don't talk to him. Don't talk to us. Don't talk about us. I don't want to see your faces ever again. Got it?”

Shion smiles at them, head tilting in a way Chrono knew was a threat. 

The two boys nervously look at each other, and then back at TRY3. “We understand!” They nod, to prove their understanding, and scamper out of the door.

Chrono buries his face in his hands and groans loudly. “That was a pain. A huge pain.” 

“It was, you're right.” Shion agrees. “Let's get some food now, okay?” 

The three of them walk up to the counter and order, and once they're done they sit down at a booth. Chrono still has his chin in his hand.

“Are you sulking?” The blonde asks with a slight smile. 

“No.” Chrono replies, taking a long sip of his drink. “I'm not particularly sulking. I'm just… uh…” He pauses, and his ears turn a bit pink.

Tokoha snorts, swirling her milkshake with her straw. She looks amused. “You're blushing, Chrono.” 

The redhead touches his cheek. It's warm. “Shut it! I'm not blushing! I just wanted to say thanks. For standing up for me. And. Uh, I'm sorry. For being trouble.” He stares intensely at the table, too embarrassed to look either of them in the eyes.

Truth be told, he was really happy they stood up for him like that. Maybe a little bit irritated at himself, maybe a little bit shy they stood up for him in the first place. 

“You aren't trouble, Chrono.” Shion says, putting his hand over Chrono's. “Well. Maybe a little bit, but we are too. That's what being friends is about, isn't it?” 

Chrono shrugs, but he feels the warmth of his best friend's hand, and the corners of his lips turn up.

“Yeah, exactly!” Tokoha rests her hand on top of Shion and Chrono's. She has a wide grin on her lips. “It's fine if you are. We still like you! And you don't need to thank us for standing up for you. It's only natural.”

Chrono can't fight the smile. His cheeks flush redder than before. “...Yeah. Thanks.”

The waitress approaches their table, holding several trays. “Hamburger with fries?” 

The three of them pull their hands away, looking flustered. They're all avoiding eye contact, as if suddenly made aware of their actions. Tokoha raises her hand up.

“That's mine.” 

* * *

They make idle conversation as they eat, words tinged with a near-invisible later of embarrassment. Finally, they've all finished and are just about to part ways.

“Well, um.” Chono starts, fiddling with his hands. “Thanks for today, you guys. I'm only saying this because I won't need to look at your faces till tomorrow, but... It made me happy, that you did something like that for me.”

Shion pulls Chrono in for a hug. “I'm glad, Chrono.” 

Glad for what, the redhead wonders, distantly. He wasn't sure if Shion meant he was glad Chrono was happy, or he was happy because Chrono shared how he was feeling for once.

Either way, the redhead melts into his best friend's touch, and Tokoha joins their hug. The three of them embrace each other, not caring about the rest of the world. They weren't thinking about anyone else but each other. 

Right now, there weren't any problems with the world. Everything was good.

"So,” the redhead mumbles, as they pull away. “I'll see you tomorrow at school?” 

His two best friends nod their head, and they part ways. Chrono finds himself giddy as he makes his way home, the joy not fading even as he opened the door to an empty house. 

“I'm home!” He says, to no one. He slips his shoes off at the entryway and changes into house clothes the second he's in his bedroom. 

Chrono finds himself smiling when he sees his reflection. It makes him a little embarrassed, seeing the gentle flush of his cheeks, the way his favorite t-shirt (naturally, the white shirt with a simple ‘3’ on it) sat on his body, and how his grin still hadn't faded. 

And that makes him happy.

**Author's Note:**

> [shion voice] what absolute horseshit
> 
> long time no vanguard fic. im me so theres gonna be a second chapter and kzkr because. uh. yeah 
> 
> anywhomst i hope you enjoyed! stan try3 also let them hold hands please bushiroad text me back plea
> 
> my twitter is @shindouchrono, and if you enjoyed this work feel free to leave a kudo, a comment, or hmu on twit! have a good day and thanks for reading


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